Dynamics of the dispersion interaction in an energy transfer system

On the propagation of resonant radiation through an optically dense system, photon capture is commonly followed by one or more near-field transfers of the resulting optical excitation. The process invokes secondary changes to the local electronic environment, shifting the electromagnetic interactions between participant chromophores and producing modified intermolecular forces. From the theory it emerges that energy transfer, when it occurs between chromophores with electronically dissimilar properties, can itself generate significant changes in the intermolecular potentials. This report highlights specific effects that can be anticipated when laser light propagates across an interface between differentially absorbing components in a model energy transfer system

Well-being over time in Britain and the USA

This paper studies happiness in the United States and Great Britain. Reported levels of well-being have declined over the last quarter of a century in the US; life satisfaction has run approximately flat through time in Britain. These findings are consistent with the Easterlin hypothesis [Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honour of Moses Abramowitz (1974) Academic Press; J. Econ. Behav. Org., 27 (1995) 35]. The happiness of American blacks, however, has risen. White women in the US have been the biggest losers since the 1970s. Well-being equations have a stable structure. Money buys happiness. People care also about relative income. Well-being is U-shaped in age. The paper estimates the dollar values of events like unemployment and divorce. They are large. A lasting marriage (compared to widowhood as a ‘natural’ experiment), for example, is estimated to be worth $100,000 a year

Money, sex and happiness : an empirical study

The links between income, sexual behavior and reported happiness are studied using recent data on a sample of 16,000 adult Americans. The paper finds that sexual activity enters strongly positively in happiness equations. Higher income does not buy more sex or more sexual partners. Married people have more sex than those who are single, divorced, widowed or separated. The happiness‐maximizing number of sexual partners in the previous year is calculated to be 1. Highly educated females tend to have fewer sexual partners. Homosexuality has no statistically significant effect on happiness

Effects of Recreational Ski Mountaineering on Cumulative Muscle Fatigue – A Longitudinal Trial

Sport is known to have many positive effects on mental and physical health. High-intensity exercise is considered to decrease muscle strength and induce muscle fatigue, which is associated with a higher risk of injury. In recreational alpine skiers, a decrease of eccentric peak hamstring torque, as an indication of muscle fatigue, occurs even after 1 day of skiing. The popularity of ski mountaineering is increasing enormously, but no studies are available on its effects on muscle strength. Therefore, the present study examined the consequences of ski mountaineering on muscle fatigue of the concentric/eccentric quadriceps and/or hamstrings. In addition, a possible role of myofascial foam rolling in reducing muscle fatigue was evaluated. Fifty recreational ski mountaineers (27 males, 23 females) completed five consecutive tours of ski mountaineering within 1 week. After each day of skiing, participants underwent an isokinetic muscle test assessing the concentric and eccentric muscle strength of both thighs. One group completed an additional session of myofascial foam rolling. Right and left concentric quadriceps peak torque, left hamstrings peak torque, left eccentric quadriceps peak torque, as well as right and left hamstring peak torque, were reduced after a single day of ski mountaineering (p ≤ 0.016 for all). However, no cumulative muscle fatigue was detected and we could not demonstrate any effect of myofascial foam rolling. The results show conclusively that a single day of ski mountaineering leads to a significant decrease of concentric and eccentric quadriceps and hamstring strength. Therefore, in order to improve muscle strength for the ski mountaineering season, a physical training program including concentric and eccentric methods can be recommended

Ernst Freund as Precursor of the Rational Study of Corporate Law

Gindis, David, Ernst Freund as Precursor of the Rational Study of Corporate Law (October 27, 2017). Journal of Institutional Economics, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2905547, doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2905547The rise of large business corporations in the late 19th century compelled many American observers to admit that the nature of the corporation had yet to be understood. Published in this context, Ernst Freund's little-known The Legal Nature of Corporations (1897) was an original attempt to come to terms with a new legal and economic reality. But it can also be described, to paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes, as the earliest example of the rational study of corporate law. The paper shows that Freund had the intuitions of an institutional economist, and engaged in what today would be called comparative institutional analysis. Remarkably, his argument that the corporate form secures property against insider defection and against outsiders anticipated recent work on entity shielding and capital lock-in, and can be read as an early contribution to what today would be called the theory of the firm.Peer reviewe